SCINDIA PHOOLAN DEVI AND THE MEDIA

A journalist who headed the business desk of a daily proudly said that
all his personal flights were sponsored by a private ai

A
journalist who headed the business desk of a daily proudly said that all his
personal flights were sponsored by a private airliner. He saw nothing wrong in
this ‘arrangement’. He gladly accepted small gifts. He saw it as just a case of
two interested parties mutually obliging each other.

Another
thing about the post-Scindia news coverage struck me: when Phoolan Devi died
neither politicians nor journalists felt so bereaved. The usual sensational
aspects about her pre-parliament life were dug up, but none of them felt the
kind of pain they felt for Scindia. An ex-Maharaja can of course curry more
favours to journos than an ex-dacoit can. Some journalists like Vir Sanghvi
even drooled over Scindia’s "good looks" and
"sophistication" on TV. Only Maharajas have these classy-castey
attributes you see, not the janata who have fought their way up from the
Chambal ravines.Some editors mourned the loss of a "personal friend"
in Scindia. But why did we not see such outpourings for Phoolan? Why did she
not become a personal friend to editors? Moreover, Phoolan was murdered near
parliament while Scindia’s death was an accident. Why were liberal journalists
appalled that somebody could think of nominating Phoolan for the Nobel Peace
Prize? Why do the prime minister and other mighties attend the Scindia funeral
and not Phoolan’s? Why do we suck up to feudalism and icons of casteist power
and not respect a woman who stood up and fought it in so many ways?

Phoolan
was either hated – or romanticised by the likes of Shekhar Kapur – for fighting
the violence inherent in our casteist and patriarchal system with violence. She
was reviled, not taken seriously, when she sought the parliamentary route.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

The uncritical response of the media to Scindia – whose
political contribution was as much, if not less, as G.K. Moopanar’s who died a
month ago – and that the media and political class

The new term for self censorship is voluntary censorship, as proposed by companies like Netflix and Hotstar. ET reports that streaming video service Amazon Prime is opposing a move by its peers to adopt a voluntary censorship code in anticipation of the Indian government coming up with its own rules. Amazon is resisting because it fears that it may alienate paying subscribers.

Clearly, the run to the 2019 elections is on. A journalist received a call from someone saying they were from Aajtak channel and were conducting a survey, asking whom she was going to vote for in 2019. On being told that her vote was secret, the caller assumed she wasn't going to vote for 'Modiji'. The caller, a woman, also didn't identify herself. A month or two earlier the same journalist received a call, this time from a man, asking if she was going to vote for the BSP.